


That's What Makes You Beautiful

by kyanmaluvbot



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Surfers, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Surfing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 10:15:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27968930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyanmaluvbot/pseuds/kyanmaluvbot
Summary: Shorter happens to save Ash Lynx, the most beautiful man he's ever seen, from drowning. Now, he can't get the blonde out of his head.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Shorter Wong
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	That's What Makes You Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shorter happens to save Ash Lynx, the most beautiful man he's ever seen, from drowning. Now, he can't get the blonde out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is my first published fanfiction!! Please excuse any mistakes. I also write solely for fun, so please refrain from major constructive criticism. I just really couldn't get Surfer Shorter AU out of my head and I needed to get it out somewhere.

Shorter was always the hottest person on that beach. And oh, did he know it.

He was chiseled to the gods, every part of his body sculpted with toned muscle. His tanned skin reflected the sunlight perfectly. His bright purple mohawk fell across the side of his head and got in his face when it was wet. His smile could rival in brightness with the sun. Anybody could see why he was so desired.

He had a job as the beach’s main surf instructor, with beachgoers constantly flocking to him for lessons whether they were actually interested in surfing or not. They just wanted a chance to get close to him, for his arms to wrap around theirs as he positioned them on a board.

He also had a bad habit of teasing those attracted to him. He would wink at a random person on the beach, blow a kiss to a bartender on the sand, get a little too comfortable with his clients. His favorite thing to do was have his swim trunks rest a little too low, exposing his adonis belt. He’d stretch with his arms behind his head and the muscles in his back and arms would ripple. The swim trunks would fall just a little bit lower and no one was able to tear their eyes away.

Of course, no one reprimanded him. He was bringing in the most money, and the crowds loved him. He was cocky but not in a rude way, smug but not enough to be a douche. He was painfully charismatic. He could make friends with almost anyone.

He was also available to almost anyone, shown by his repeated flirting with beachgoers no matter their gender. The locals said not a single person to visit the beach he worked at, whether they were taken or not, could resist falling for Shorter Wong. 

One particular day, he was leaning against a portable drink cart, shamelessly flirting with the barista. He told a joke and she laughed, but he caught something out of the corner of his eye. In the ocean, there was a head of blonde hair bobbing in the water with hands occasionally shooting up as well. Shit, someone was drowning.

He hadn’t been paying attention to what the barista was saying and he noticed she’d paused as if waiting for him to respond. He took off, sprinting down the beach and weaving through crowds of people who stopped to look after him. 

He jumped into the water and started swimming towards the blonde hair as fast as he could. He made it to him and dove underwater. He opened his eyes despite the salty sting, something he’d become used to over the years. He could make out the body of a man thrashing around. Wait, his right leg wasn’t moving as much as the rest of his body.

He came up for air then went back down for a closer look, trying to work as quickly as possible without hurting the man. He could see a bright piece of coral surrounding the man’s ankle. He was stuck. Shorter grabbed the coral and yanked, but it was rooted too deep in the sand. He instead grabbed onto the man’s lower leg and started pulling. He was careful to stay away from the man’s thrashing arms, though he’d seemed to realize someone was helping him and calmed down slightly.

After a few pulls, he managed to free the man’s ankle. He wrapped his arm around him and began swimming back towards shore. The man’s head was now above water and he was coughing up some water. 

Shorter quickly made it to shore and laid the stranger down on the sand. The crowd that had gathered near the shoreline made room for them. He turned towards the man’s face and froze in place, a choked gasp escaping his mouth that he covered with a cough.

The guy was beautiful, rivaled only by Shorter himself. His medium-length blonde hair was stuck to his head and face. His eyes were closed and his blonde eyelashes rested on his cheeks. His eyebrows--also blonde--furrowed as he coughed again, the muscles in his neck straining. 

After that cough he seemed to relax, clearing his throat a few times before settling down. He opened his eyes and Shorter was mesmerized by a deep shade of green staring at him. The man blinked and opened his mouth to speak. “Thank you,” he said in a smooth voice. Shorter just stared at him with wide eyes.

“I- uh… Oh, um, your ankle, right!” He flushed and shifted to be closer to the man’s ankle, trying to focus his full attention on it. It was scratched up pretty badly and bleeding, but there didn’t seem to be any particularly deep cuts that needed immediate attention.

“We should, uh, we should get you to the infirmary to get your leg bandaged.” The man nodded and Shorter held out his arm for the man to grab onto. He did so and draped his arm over Shorter’s neck for support. 

He helped him up the beach and into a small cabin that served as the infirmary. The crowd didn’t follow them--they were too confused. Shorter never got flustered, so what the hell was that about? He’d flirted with countless visitors that were extremely attractive yet never lost his confident aura. What was different about this man? Had they met before?

Meanwhile in the infirmary, the nurse was cleaning up the man’s ankle. She poured rubbing alcohol on it and he hissed under his breath, clenching the edge of the chair he was sat on. Shorter winced at the sight, a strange ache in his heart at seeing the stranger in pain.

As the nurse was wrapping the stranger’s leg with bandages, Shorter was becoming increasingly distracted by his thoughts. He’d zoned out, staring directly at the guy and his stupidly beautiful face. A vaguely familiar voice calling to him brought him back to his senses.

“Hey. Hey! Hey? Dude?” Shorter’s eyes focused to see the blonde was the one talking. He cleared his throat. “Uh- hm?”  
The man rolled his eyes but there didn’t seem to be any real annoyance behind it. “I asked you for your name.”

Not allowing the smoothness of the stranger’s voice to get him lost in his mind again, he responded. “It’s, uh, Shorter. Shorter Wong.” The guy nodded. “I’m Ash Lynx,” he replied, holding out his hand. Shorter shook it and cleared his throat again.

“How’s your leg?” He desperately tried to summon his confidence back. He didn’t like being so awkward--it wasn’t like him. Ash didn’t seem to notice. Had he never heard of Shorter before? He didn’t know his name, and Shorter would’ve certainly remembered someone so beautiful. Did he just move here? Was he just visiting? Shorter couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing him again.

Ash shrugged. “It’s fine. It hurts, but I’ll be okay.” The nurse grabbed his attention for a moment to tell him how to take care of the wounds. He nodded at her then turned back to Shorter. “Thank you, again.”

Shorter blushed profusely and prayed that his tan skin and being out in the sun all day made it less obvious. “Of course!” He hoped he wasn’t coming off as too enthusiastic. “So, are you just visiting town?” Before he could stop himself, the question that was nagging at his brain had escaped his lips.

Ash shook his head slightly. “Actually, I just moved here a few days ago. I bought an apartment a few streets away and heard a lot about the local beach so I wanted to visit.”

Shorter internally let out a huge sigh of relief. He would be able to see this beautiful man again. Feeling his embarrassment and original shock at seeing Ash wearing off, he gave one of his signature bright smiles. “I’m sure you’ll love it here! The people are really nice and there’s lots to do.”

Ash gave a small grin and Shorter felt his heart skip a beat. “So do you live here? You seem pretty popular.”

Shorter gave a small chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m the main surf instructor at this beach. Almost everyone knows me.” Some of his smugness was beginning to return and he smirked after finishing his sentence.

The blonde nodded. “That means you’re probably a trained lifeguard, too. You seemed to know what you were doing.” Ash stood slowly while he talked, testing out how much pressure he was able to put on his ankle. He stretched with his arms behind his head and Shorter couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles in his abdomen and arms flexed as he did so. He wasn’t buff like Shorter, but he was definitely in shape. He was more lean and tall.

He shook his head slightly before his mind could wander too far. “Yeah, it’s part of the training. I was also a lifeguard before I came here, so the experience helped.” 

Ash began to walk towards the door of the cabin and he followed, opening the door for him. Ash nodded to him as a thanks. Shorter could feel the conversation coming to a close, though, and he wanted a way to make sure he’d have a solid chance with this guy.

“Hey, um, if you’re free tomorrow you should come back and have a proper first day at the beach, without something shitty like almost drowning happening.” It was a Saturday so he hoped that having just moved in Ash wouldn’t have any plans already. If he already had a job that would take up his week; this would be Shorter’s only opportunity to see him before next weekend, and he didn’t think he could wait that long.

Ash nodded once. “I have to finish unpacking in the morning, but I’ll come by in the afternoon.” Shorter gave one of his charismatic smiles again, running his hand through his hair that by then was almost dry.

“If looking for my rock hard abs isn’t enough to find me, just look for the crowd.” He let out a loud laugh before winking at Ash. He lifted up his hand as a goodbye and started walking back towards the crowd of people who were anxiously waiting for an explanation to what the hell just happened.

\---------------------

The next day, Shorter anxiously paced the beach the entire morning. He had hurriedly cancelled all his clients for the day, much to everyone’s dismay. He knew he wouldn’t be able to focus well enough to properly teach any students. His mind was too preoccupied with Ash.

He couldn’t remember a single moment since their encounter that he hadn’t been thinking of Ash. There was just so much to think about; his perfect face, beautiful hair, intoxicating eyes, and especially his smooth, deep voice that sounded like it glided on the air. He even dreamed of him that night. 

When he got to the beach, he’d always kept one eye on the stairs leading down to the sand. He was always half-expecting a beautiful head of blonde hair to appear at the top, but alas, he was repeatedly disappointed.

Around 2pm, Shorter had eased his nerves for the most part and was doing his usual flirting, a small group of people gathered around him. He wasn’t even paying attention to the beach entrance and didn’t see Ash walk onto the beach and start towards the group.

Shorter laughed at his own joke then smiled at the small crowd. “I’m gonna go surfing, does anyone want to help me with putting sunscreen on my back?”

He’d been half-joking, but suddenly there were multiple people arguing with each other and calling to Shorter saying they’d do it. “I- uh…” He didn’t have a chance to come up with something to say before everyone went silent.

The sunscreen bottle clicked open. Shorter looked to his left and froze. Ash was holding the bottle, a smirk settled on his perfect lips. He flicked his hand at Shorter. “Come on, turn around.”

Shorter stuttered momentarily before clamping his mouth shut and turning around. His face was flushed a bright shade of red that couldn’t be passed off as anything but a blush. Nobody dared make a sound.

Ash squeezed some sunscreen lotion onto his fingertips and rubbed his hands together. He then started applying it to Shorter’s back. The taller man flinched at the coldness of the lotion and his muscles tensed up from the touch. Ash’s hands were gentle yet firm and Shorter was as stiff as a board while they glided across his muscular back.

The tension in the air was so thick someone could cut it with a knife. Shorter was glad he was turned away from the other man because his face was a vibrant shade of red and if he saw the blonde’s face right now he might actually explode.

His mind could focus on nothing but was happening in that moment. The precise feeling of Ash’s hands on his back. He noticed the exact pressure he applied. Every inch of skin the blonde touched was left with a tingling sensation. 

After what felt like forever but was actually far too soon, Ash finished applying the sunscreen and closed the bottle. To everyone’s astonishment, he began to walk away as if putting sunscreen on random hot guys’ backs was an everyday occurrence.

Shorter stood stunned for at least 30 seconds, his body practically malfunctioning. His stomach was doing flips, his heart rate had sped up, his breathing was ragged. Not only that, but his mind had stopped working. It was struggling to process what the hell just happened and couldn’t form any coherent thoughts.

Then suddenly he realized he couldn’t hear Ash’s footsteps anymore, he had walked too far away. What if he never came back after that? He had to do something now.

Shorter snapped back to reality and spun in a circle, trying to spot the beautiful man. He saw him a little ways away and began sprinting. He didn’t think he’d ever ran so fast in his life. He couldn’t let this god of a human slip away so easily.

When Shorter was reasonably close to Ash, his labored breathing gave him away and the blonde turned around, confused but also with a dust of pink on his face. He became even more confused when the tan man fell to his knees before him and took Ash’s hands in his own.

“Please! Please! Please let me give you surfing lessons!!” People watched from a small distance, nearly as confused as Ash. Shorter was not the begging type, not at all.

“What?” Ash managed to ask, staring down at the purple-haired men. He looked utterly perplexed but yet he didn’t try to take his hands away from Shorter’s warm ones.

“Please let me teach you how to surf! I’ll do it for free! Please, please, please!” He looked up at Ash with what could only be described as puppy-dog eyes. His mohawk flopped down in front of his eyes and he stuck out his lower lip in a pout.

“I- uh…” Ash really didn’t know how to respond. Normally he would decline and get out of the situation, so why was it so hard to say no?

“Pretty please! Just 45 minutes one day and you don’t have to pay and I’ll buy you food after! Please!” Shorter continued to beg, dragging out the last “please”. Ash sighed and closed his eyes. “Fine…”

Shorter immediately perked up and stood, still holding the blonde’s hands. He squealed like a child and retracted his hands only to hug Ash without thinking. In pure elation, he picked him up and twirled him around before setting him back on the sand. He didn’t fully realize what he did until a few seconds later and his eyes widened.

“Oh, um, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking, I-” Ash cut him off with a laugh. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard; it flowed through the air like a cool stream. Shorter stood there, dumbfounded once again.

Those beautiful green eyes looked him up and down, then those perfect lips formed the words, “It’s okay, really.” 

Shorter really couldn’t do anything but stand frozen in place. He stuttered repeatedly but eventually gave up on trying to speak. Ash smirked at the state he was in.

“This Saturday, 11am.” 

His purple hair flopped as he nodded vigorously, really the only thing he could do. Ash chuckled once more before walking away.

Shorter fell to his knees again in a daze. Did that really just happen? He’d just got on his knees and begged in front of the hottest person he’d ever met.

And now he had a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh, I love this so much already! I'm really pushing the puppyboy Shorter agenda with this one. 
> 
> Also!! No major angst in this story, I have enough Shorash angst ideas and potential fics to last me a lifetime. This will be super fluffy I promise.


End file.
